A Moment in Time
by SM0KEYJ0E
Summary: {COMPLETE} Daniel is given a mysterious opportunity that has far-reaching consequences. --Rating changed for cussing--
1. Default Chapter

Author's Notes: Imagine all the standard disclaimers here...

I'm not sure where exactly this story is going quite yet; I have a sort of vague plot, but details are sketchy, and I have no idea how I want it to end. I'm open to suggestions... ;)

Can I take a minute to plug the other story I wrote? _She Who Erases._ I'm really quite proud of it.

* * *

SG1, minus one archaeologist stood in the embarkation room, geared up and ready to go. Colonel Jack O'Neill turned to his second in command.

"How much time, Carter?" he questioned.

The major looked at her watch. "He's got five minutes, Sir." Sam answered.

"I'm taking bets." Jack smiled. "Ten says he'll been fifteen minutes late." He turned to the imposing figure to his side. "Teal'c?"

The jaffa turned to face O'Neill and cocked an eyebrow.

"You want some of this action?" Jack questioned.

"I do not." Teal'c replied.

The colonel turned back to Sam. "Carter?"

"Make it twenty and you've got a bet." she challenged, extending her hand.

Jack shook it. "Overconfidence can be dangerous, Major."

"Oh, I think he'll be on time for this one, Sir." She replied. "He's awfully excited about it."

Jack adjusted his P90. "More excited than usual?"

"Yes, Sir. An aerial survey sent back images of some interesting ruins. He discussed it at length in the briefing. It uh..." Sam smiled slyly, "...it was in your copy of the report."

"Ah." Jack nodded. "Yes." He paused. "I wasn't really paying attention."

Sam continued to smile and looked at her watch again just as Daniel came running into the gate room, cramming things into the pockets of his fatigues. "Right on time, Sir." she informed her commanding officer as Daniel secured his boonie hat and the chevrons began locking into place.

"SG1, you have a go." Came General Hammond's voice.

Three members of the team all looked expectantly at Jack, who held out his arm in an 'after you' gesture. While Daniel and Teal'c started up the ramp, Sam hung back a moment, her eyebrows raised. Resting his arms on his P90, the colonel finally met her gaze and gave a half-smile, to which she grinned broadly.

"I'm going to want that twenty dollars as soon as we come back, Sir." She told him as she began walking backwards up the ramp. "And I'd like it to be a nice, crisp, new bill. Not a bunch of crumply fives you got back from the mini mart... Sir."

As Carter disappeared through the gate, Jack turned and raised his eyes to the control room, where the General was chuckling to himself over the exchange. Giving a lazy, two-fingered salute, Jack sighed and started up the ramp himself.

----

As Daniel stepped through the event horizon, he immediately took in his surroundings: Teal'c was next to him, beginning to descend the small set of steps leading up to the gate on P79-453, making himself acutely aware as they explored this new planet; the MALP could be seen a few yards off; the sky had purplish hue... Daniel himself began down the steps, scanning the scenery, looking for some sign of civilization. Moments later he heard Sam step out of the event horizon, followed by Jack a few seconds later. Daniel turned to look at them: Sam had an impish grin on her face, and Jack was already looking impatient.

"Carter?" Jack called out, making his own survey of the area.

Sam already had her equipment out. "Daniel's ruins are located in a small valley almost three clicks that way, Sir." She pointed in the direction of the planet's rising sun.

"Alright." Jack sighed. "Teal'c, keep point." he instructed.


	2. 2

Author's Notes: Okay... so... I'll come right out and tell you that the first part and majority of this chapter has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. I just wanted to have some fun with Sam and Daniel. Sorry. Um, if you're only interested in, you know, advancing the story or whatever, just skip to the last few paragraphs.

Also... sorry about my horribly short chapters. It's the way I work.

* * *

As SG1 made its way around P79-453, Sam and Daniel walked together. 

"So, I finally formally met the new linguist." Sam mentioned, with a sideways glance and smile.

Daniel dug in his pocket for a candy bar. "Elisabeth Cooper." He confirmed distractedly while opening the wrapper.

"She seemed very nice." Sam complimented as she continued scanning the landscape.

"Yeah." Daniel offered her his candy, still completely oblivious to anything but the task at hand. "She is. And very bright."

"She stops by your office a lot." Sam looked directly at Daniel, eyebrows raised suggestively.

The look went unnoticed as Daniel took a bite. "Yeah." He answered. "I think she's a little nervous being at the SGC."

"You think it's just being new... to the SGC?" Sam questioned.

Daniel's brow furrowed. "What?" he asked. "What am I missing?"

"Oh, nothing." There was a lilt to Sam's voice now.

"Nothing." Daniel repeated.

Sam shook her head and smiled. "I just think your new associate has a bit of a... crush."

Daniel took a deep breath before realization hit him. "Okay. Okay." He nodded. "I see what this is. You're making a little joke," he raised a dismissive hand to his side, where his friend was walking. "'cause back when I... with Graham Simmons... Elisabeth doesn't have any kind of... anything."

"I don't know, Daniel." Sam wheedled.

He rolled his eyes in response. "She just feels more comfortable around another civilian."

"Or she's fallen victim to the Daniel Jackson charm."

"The Daniel - wha... what?" Daniel actually stopped to stare at Sam.

She pushed him back to their previous pace. "Come on, Daniel." She grinned. "Look at you."

Daniel stopped a second time, looking at himself self-consciously. "What?" He asked. "This is how archaeologists look."

Sam pulled him along again. "Daniel, _actors_ who _play_ archaeologists in _movies_ look like you."

Daniel frowned momentarily, but raised his own question. "Do you think you look like the typical astrophysicist?"

Sam gave a frown of her own. "Maybe not, but that's not the point." She dismissed.

Daniel chuckled somewhat to himself. "Remind me again what that is?"

"You've developed a bit of a reputation for being quite the charmer –" Sam began.

Daniel moved to cut her off. "Hold on a second –"

"You have." Sam insisted. "That, coupled with your looks and your character... women tend to develop... feelings..." she trailed off, grinning again.

Daniel's brow furrowed again, this time with worry. "Wait, you're serious?"

Sam looked at him incredulously. "Are you telling me you really are oblivious to it?"

"Well, in the past... I mean, obviously there was Shyla... I knew she had... feelings..." this time Daniel trailed off.

Sam nodded emphatically. "Yeah. After she told you she thought you were her destiny."

"Hey!" Daniel exclaimed accusingly.

Sam held up her hands in mock surrender. "No, I think it's very..." she searched for the proper word. "...sweet."

"Thanks." Daniel scoffed. "That'll certainly help the complex along."

-----

As they neared the ruins, Daniel found his pace quickening. The structure was larger than he had originally thought: it was a set of six stone pillars laid out in a rectangle of about two square kilometers, each chiseled with a language that he suspected would be a form of Greek. Although the aerial feedback hadn't shown it, Daniel could now see a seventh pillar in the center of the covered structure. Coming upon the pillar nearest to him, Daniel traced his fingers over the indentations in stone. Subconsciously, his brain was cataloguing all the characters and symbols, making matches to languages he was familiar with.

"How long?" came Jack's voice from just inside.

Daniel continued his finger tracing for a moment before realizing Jack was talking to him.

"For what?" he questioned.

Jack swept an arm around "All of it." At Daniel's expression, Jack sighed. "Right." He turned to the other members of the team. "Carter, get your samples, Teal'c go with her. Daniel and I will stick around here."

"Yes, Sir." Sam answered as Teal'c nodded his assent.


	3. 3

Author's Notes: So... I'm not sure more than four or so people are actually reading or enjoying this, but I'll keep going anyway... just for giggles. ;)

* * *

"This is interesting." Daniel said to no one in particular.

Sam walked over from where she'd just begun pulling out equipment for soil testing. "What is it?" she questioned, taking a look at whatever it was on the pillar that Daniel was so intent upon.

"Well, there is Classical Greek, like I thought," he waved a hand over the text, "but there are other languages as well." Daniel began walking around to the other sides of the pillar. "I couldn't see them because of the angle of the camera on the images that were sent back from the UAV."

"How many others?" Sam questioned, following him around.

Daniel stopped when he came back to his starting point, wrapping one arm around his body, while the other gestured vaguely toward the rest of the structure. "Well, assuming there's no repeating pattern, there's one language on each side of each pillar..."

"There are six pillars." Sam followed his train of thought.

"Seven, counting the one in the middle." Daniel wrapped the other arm around himself, turning to face her.

"Twenty-eight different languages." Sam stated.

Daniel nodded, then bent down to pick up his journal. "It looks like it."

"Maybe they all say the same thing?" Sam offered.

"No." Daniel smiled at her effort. "It doesn't look like it."

"Well, considering the number of languages you speak, maybe it won't be so bad."

"Well, I'm thinking it's probably not going to be a lot of help." Daniel dismissed. "It looks like most of them will be ancient, dead languages." He pointed back to the pillar where he'd begun, "This is classical Greek," indicating the other three sides, "something similar to biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Akkadian..." and looked back at Sam. "This is gonna take some time."

Sam smiled encouragingly. "I'll get out of your way."


	4. 4

Forehead crinkled in thought, Daniel wrote yet another language down in the journal he carried. He'd begun cataloguing the texts and had taken some rubbings, hoping to get a better idea of what he was looking at and what references he might consult or at the very least recomment for the archaeological team, should he not be able to return himself.

Moving to the center pillar, Daniel circled it, not a little intrigued: The same text was written on all four sides... one line, in what looked very much like the language of the Ancients. Tracing his fingers over the script, Daniel muttered under his breath... very suddenly, he collapsed

-----

Coming to the top of the ridge overlooking the ruins, Jack continued to scan the horizon. Sighing, he clicked his com.

"Carter, you all set?"

A bit of static crackled as his second-in-command responded. "Just about, Sir. I'm almost ready to pack up and head back to Daniel's position."

O'Neill clicked again. "You see anything, Teal'c?"

"There appears to be no sign of civilization on this planet, O'Neill." Came Teal'c's deep voice.

Jack sighed again. "You hear that, Daniel?" he asked, his eyes traveling to the structure below. "We're gonna flag this one for an archaeological survey and head back home. You have as long as it takes us all to get back to your position to get what you need." He paused. "No arguments." Jack stared at one of the pillars, imagining Daniel to be there. After several moments of silence, he went back to his com. "Daniel?" Another pause. "Come in, Daniel." O'Neill sighed for a third time and started down the ridge, certain SG1's civilian had lost himself in his work again.

As Jack neared the ruins, he scanned for Daniel. Not seeing him, he went back to the radio. "Daniel." He called out in a semi sing-song voice. "Dr. Jackson... paging Dr. Daniel Jackson" he mocked. "Daniel! Yo!" he forsook the radio, this time choosing to shout through the ruins. "Daniel! Where the hell are –" and then he came upon his unconscious friend. "Dammit, Daniel." He cursed, running up to kneel at Daniel's side. He leaned over, listening for breath sounds. "Carter!" he half-shouted into his com. "Back to the ruins, now. Teal'c, get to the gate double time and bring back Fraiser. Daniel's in trouble."

"On my way, Sir." Was Sam's hurried reply.

Immediately following was Teal'c's own confirmation: "I shall endeavor to return as quickly as possible."


	5. 5

Janet came over the top of the ridge, gasping at the ruins that lay before her. Had she been there for any other reason, she would have stayed and admired the beauty of the alien planet and the view from this hill. As it was, she bolted down, closely following Teal'c, her own team of medics following her.

As the group neared, Janet could see the Colonel and Sam, kneeling near a prone figure she knew to be Daniel. From the distance, Janet could see Sam was giving mouth-to-mouth, but thankfully, she didn't appear to be performing CPR.

Running up, Janet dropped to her knees next to Sam, pulling out a stethoscope.

"What happened?" she questioned, trying to assess the situation.

"I don't know." Colonel O'Neill answered. "I found him like this."

"How long has he been unconscious?" the doctor asked, as she listened to the steady rhythm of Daniel's heartbeat.

"A little under an hour since I found him." O'Neill replied, removing his cap for a brief moment to run a gloved hand roughly through his hair before replacing it.

Janet turned to Sam. "And how long have you been doing mouth-to-mouth?"

"Half an hour, off and on." Sam answered in between breaths.

Janet continued her examination. "He's kept a steady rhythm?"

"Yeah, but he's got a weak carotid." Sam confirmed.

Janet turned to her team, who had been setting equipment in case it was needed. "Get him on the backboard." She instructed.

Setting into action, Matthews and Shesman quickly and carefully moved Daniel's limp body onto the hard plastic.

"I need to intubate!" Janet called out, pulling objects out of her bag.

Moving around Sam, she went to Daniel's head, tipping it back to get a better view of his throat. Sliding the tube past his vocal chords, she pulled away. "Bag him!" she instructed.

Tossing things back into her bag and hanging her stethoscope about her neck, Janet continued calling out orders. "Let's get him back to the gate."

Shesman and Matthews took their places on one side of the archaeologist, Teal'c and O'Neill on the other, Janet in between them to continue monitoring her patient, Sam at his head, squeezing the ambu bag at regular intervals.

"Lift him on my count." Janet ordered. "1...2...3..."

----

The group had moved quickly toward the gate, though not quickly enough for anyone's liking.

"Carter! Dial it up!" O'Neill shouted as they approached the DHD.

Janet took over the ambu bag as Sam ran forward, pushing symbols that would activate the gate for earth. Taking just a moment, Janet listened to Daniel's heartbeat again.

"He's crashing!" she cried out. "Let's move!"

The small group doubled their already fast pace, climbed the short set of stairs and stepped through the event horizon. A gurney was waiting in the embarkation room, with full medical staff and equipment.

"Charge the paddles to twenty joules!" Janet shouted. "And give him a mil of epi!" She paused, grabbing the waiting defibrillator from one of her nurses. "Clear!"

The remaining members of SG1 stood by watching as Janet and her team worked. Jack couldn't keep himself from flinching and Sam turned her head away as Daniel's body jumped with the electricity. Teal'c stood stoically by.

"Still flatline!" One of the nurses called out, redundant with the steady, unwavering pitch of the defibrillator.

"Charge it to thirty and give him another mil of epi." Janet continued. "Clear!"

Daniel's body jerked again, and Janet let out a sigh of relief as the machines began beeping steadily, indicating a heartbeat. "Let's get him to the infirmary."


	6. 6

Author's Notes: Just a quick thing: Please review! It makes my heart happy! Also, a few chapters from now, I could really use a few suggestions as to what you'd like to see... Thanks to all of you who have been reading and sharing your opinions... it's greatly appreciated. ;)

* * *

"Janet?" Sam stood as the doctor entered the hallway outside the infirmary.

Janet raised a placating hand. "He's stable." She sighed. "We were able to get a steady heartbeat, and he's breathing on his own again."

Sam looked to the two men beside her, all three of them still fully geared, and then back to Fraiser. "Can we see him?"

Janet nodded. "You can go in, but he's not awake."

Jack took a step forward. "What's the matter with him?"

Folding her hands in front of her, grasping Daniel's chart, Janet sighed. "That's a little trickier." She answered. "Honestly, I don't know. As I said, he's not conscious and he doesn't have rapid eye movement –"

"Is he in a coma?" Sam interrupted.

"No." the doctor dismissed. "An MRI and an EEG showed brain activity inconsistent with a coma." Janet shrugged helplessly. "I can't explain it. He's not sleeping and he's not comatose. The most I can tell you right now is that he _is_ alive. I'm afraid until I know more about what happened, I can't give you any answers, and I can't treat Daniel." She paused momentarily, "You don't know what happened? If he touched something or..."

Jack sighed in frustration and dropped his head, staring at the ground. "Well, it _is_ Daniel." He answered mirthlessly.

Janet just stared for a minute, wanting very much to give the remaining members of SG1 the answers they wanted to hear. Before she could say anything else, a nurse joined them in the hallway.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Dr. Fraiser, but General Hammond would like to see all of you in ten minutes. He'd like to debrief." She informed them.

Janet nodded. "Thank you, Lieutenant." She turned to Colonel O'Neill. "Colonel, I'm going to check on Daniel once more and then head over to the briefing room. There's nothing more you can do for him right now, so I suggest you use the ten minutes to get changed."

O'Neill nodded wearily and removed his cap, bending the rim anxiously as he turned and walked away. Teal'c nodded solemnly as he followed, and Sam gave her whispered thanks and gave the doctor's shoulder a light squeeze.

Sighing again, Janet turned and pushed through the double doors, planning to stop first in her office to change out of her own gate travel gear before checking on Daniel, hoping that maybe in the five minutes it would take her to get back into her normal uniform, something would change with his condition so that she wouldn't have to report the same uncertain news to General Hammond.


	7. 7

SG1, minus Dr. Daniel Jackson, but plus Dr. Janet Fraiser and General Hammond sat in the briefing room.

"I'm reluctant to allow you or anyone else to return to P79-453 in light of what happened to Dr. Jackson." Hammond voiced his doubts to the team.

"General, all due respect," Janet spoke up, "but each of the members of SG1 have had a complete medical exam, including Daniel. _I _have also undergone the routine physical in addition to Lieutenants Matthews and Shesman. We can find absolutely nothing wrong other than Daniel's current state." She paused. "The fact is, Sir, I think they key to helping him is probably on that planet."

"I agree, General." O'Neill added. "You've read the mission reports. This is _Daniel_. He probably touched something or did something or... something" he finished lamely.

"I would also agree, Sir." Sam added. "Something happened to him in those ruins. I think we need to go back, figure out what they say, and how that could have affected him."

Hammond sighed. "Alright. SG1, you'll go back to P79-453, accompanied by Captain MacArthur."

"Sir," Carter jumped in a second time. "I think we might need more than just Captain MacArthur."

"Major?" Hammond questioned.

"General, Daniel thought there could be as many as twenty-eight different languages, most of them ancient dialects." She answered.

"Twenty-eight?" Jack asked incredulously. "Oy. The guy we need figuring this out _is_ Daniel." He muttered.

Hammond sighed again. "Colonel, you'll take your team and Captain MacArthur through the gate. Do whatever you need to do to bring back the materials you need to make that translation." He instructed. "We'll work on this end to pull whatever resources and personnel you might need. Be ready to embark in one hour."


	8. 8

Author's Notes: Okay, so... I've got maybe three chapters planned out, but then I'm gonna need some input as to what you'd like to see... if you don't quite get where this is going by the end of this chapter, you probably should by the end of the next; at the very least, you should know by the end of the one after that.

* * *

Daniel opened his eyes and found himself in a very white, very bright room. He blinked several times, waiting for his vision to clear. It occurred to him that he was not wearing his glasses, yet he seemed to have no trouble seeing. Confused and intrigued, he sat up and took a better look at his surroundings: he was laying, though now sitting, on a cot of sorts, which was also white. Daniel suddenly felt extraordinarily out of place with his black T-shirt and drab green pants. He'd just begun to wonder what had happened to the rest of his gear when he saw, in a far corner of the room, a tall, slender, blonde-haired woman, dressed completely in white. Seeing him notice her, she smiled warmly.

"Wow." Daniel stated. "You look familiar"

"Daniel Jackson." The woman stated simply, walking toward him.

Daniel also stood as she approached, amazed at how similar she appeared to Oma Desala. "Who are you?" he asked, looking at her and then gesturing. "What, uh... what is this place?"

"You ask the wrong questions, Daniel." She answered.

"Where are my friends?" he crossed his arms over his chest, somewhat uneasy with her extremely calm demeanor.

"They are not here." She replied.

Daniel's brow crinkled at the peculiarity of the situation. "Where are they?"

"That depends on your answer." The woman told him cryptically.

Daniel's head tilted in thought. "My answer to what?"

"If you had the choice, Daniel Jackson," she began, "would you take it all back?"

Daniel was now incredibly confused. "All... what?"

The woman smiled. "How much would you like to take back?"

"I don't, uh" Daniel smiled, in a bit of an attempt to play along. "I don't understand." He paused, hoping for an explanation, but the Oma look-alike just smiled benignly. "Look, I'd really like to know where my friends are." He insisted.

"They are not here."

Daniel nodded. "So you said." Another pause. "How did _I_ get here?"

"That is not the issue at hand."

Daniel raised his eyebrows. "Can we make it the issue at hand?" He waited, then sighed. "Alright." He gave in. "The issue: would I take it all back. Take what back? Whatever I did to get me here? This mission? What?"

The woman nodded once. "Certainly you could do that."

Daniel pursed his lips in thought. "But there's something else I could take back?"

She nodded again. "How much would you like to take back?"

Before Daniel knew what was happening, there was a bright flash of light

"Jack, tell Jacob to stop." He was back in the SGC... watching a moment that he'd already lived

"You're giving up?"

"No."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know."

Another flash of light and he was back in the white room with the irritatingly, perfectly calm and enigmatic woman.

"What –" Daniel struggled to put his thoughts back together. "What just happened?" he questioned. "How did you do that?"

"Would you take it back?" the woman asked. At Daniel's silence, she contintued. "Perhaps you would allow the bomb to reach the critical overload?"

"No." Daniel shook his head, both affirming the negative and trying to clear his brain. "No, of course not." He paused, forming ideas. "Are you saying that I can go back and change it?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"How is that possible?" He stammered. "Is – is – is this time travel or, or, or... I don't know, an alternate reality or...?" Daniel trailed off, hoping that she would fill in the blanks.

Instead:

"That is not the issue."

Daniel sighed again, allowing his shoulders to drop in defeat. "Of course it isn't."


	9. 9

Jack stared at the mess in front of him. Hands in his pockets, he shuffled up to the nearest stack of books and papers, pulling a sheaf from the top and looking at it, turning it round and round in a half-hearted attempt to understand what he was looking at.

"Please don't touch that, Sir." Came a voice from what sounded like a few feet away.

Jack looked around the lab, spinning in a complete circle, trying to find the disembodied voice. While he was searching, a head popped up.

"Captain MacArthur?" Jack questioned, taking half a step closer.

"Yes, Sir." MacArthur answered. "Please don't touch anything, Sir. We've got a very delicate balance of half-completed and partially researched translations. We know exactly where everything is, and if you..." he trailed off, his face scrunched up with anxiety.

Jack nodded. "We?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, Sir." The Captain replied.

Jack looked around again, hands back in his pockets, turning to the left and then to the right. "We?" he repeated.

MacArthur nodded vigorously as he spoke. "The translation team, Sir." He supplied. "Andrews," another head popped up, "Tatlock," a hand waved from behind a lab table, "and Laird are here," the last officer was heard, rather than seen, as something fell with a crash. MacArthur sighed wearily, rolling his eyes. "There are others working in their offices; some are camped out in Major Carter's lab... we're making some progress, Colonel, but the truth is, while we're doing the best we can to find something to help Dr. Jackson, this is gonna take some time. Some of it... even Dr. Jackson himself didn't seem to think he'd be able to complete the work in less than..." the Captain pulled a leather-bound book off of Daniel's desk. Opening it up and flipping around, he held out the open journal.

Taking it, Jack stared at the familiar scrawl in unfamiliar languages that covered the pages, only vaguely listening to the status report.

"Dr. Jackson... it's actually kind of fun, Sir." At Jack's skeptical look, MacArthur expounded. "You see, Dr. Jackson, I imagine to keep all the languages fresh in his head, will occasionally write his commentary in the very language that he's translating... it makes it kind of a game to read his thoughts."

"A _game_?" Jack asked incredulously. "You people need to get out of this mountain more often."

"Right." MacArthur's enthusiastic grin quickly faded. "The point is, Sir, Dr. Jackson indicated in his last entry, the one he was writing just before he... well, you know, of course..."

"Spit it out, Captain." Jack ordered.

"As I said, Dr. Jackson didn't think he'd be able to complete the work in less than a few months, and probably not without help." MacArthur pointed to a list of several names. "These are some scholars, linguists, etcetera that I believe he was planning on contacting for assistance."

"Super." Jack replied, closing the journal and handing it back. "Well..." he paused awkwardly, "Keep up the good work." He forced out, before turning and leaving.


	10. 10

White light flashed again, and Daniel suddenly felt comfortable and warm. He knew he was in bed, but he wasn't alone. From the feel of her body next to his, the scent of her hair, the warmth of her breath on his chest... he knew without looking that it was his wife. Closing his eyes for a moment, he allowed himself a few seconds of joy at waking up this way again before something in the back of his brain cut the time short. He sighed an opened his eyes. Allowing them to adjust to the darkness, Daniel soon realized he was in his apartment, which he had already known on some level: the mattress, sheets, comforter... all were vastly different to the bed he and Sha're had shared on Abydos.

Daniel closed his eyes again, screwing them shut in disappointment and grief.

"This isn't real." He whispered to himself. "This isn't real."

What was most disconcerting was that it _felt_ so real. This was different from simply watching a scene from his life... Sha're was here; he was here, holding her, touching her... he could smell her... taste her... real or not, he almost didn't care.

But reality came at Daniel hard... Sha're had been dead for years, gone for even longer... and even Abydos was destroyed now.

Daniel didn't know how long he lay there, trying to figure out what to do and trying to wrap his mind around what he was experiencing. Before he knew it, the first rays of the morning sun were shining through the curtains covering the bedroom window, and Sha're was stirring.

"Good morning, husband." She murmured, snuggling herself closer to him as she always used to do in the cold hours of early morning, before the sun had really risen and heated the blowing sands of the desert planet.

Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, mentally reminding himself over and over again, "This is not real! This is not real!"

"Dan'iel?" Sha're lifted her head slightly, resting her chin on his chest.

Daniel opened his eyes and almost couldn't breathe at seeing her staring up at him that way again... that look of concern and love and passion and joy and desire...

"I'm here." He whispered, wanting desperately for it to be true and wanting desperately to believe it.

---

Daniel was back in the white room so quickly his breath caught; his chest felt tight; his heart constricted. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, willing his emotions to be brought back under control.

"But how can that be?" he asked the nameless woman. "Sha're never came back through the gate with me."

"You could take it back." She repeated.

"I could change it so that she would come back to earth?"

"It is one of many options."

Daniel sighed and began pacing, trying to think rationally in spite of the flip flops that both his brain and heart were doing. "Wait, wait, wait." he stopped to face the alien woman and raised a finger. "I've done this before. Is this a game?"

The woman smiled. "It is no game."

Daniel's brow crinkled. "You're telling me I can choose to go back and do things differently?"

She nodded. "I am."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Daniel brought one hand up as he closed his eyes and wearily rubbed his forehead. "I'm not saying that I want to do it, but, if I did, would I know what I know now?" He stopped and looked back at her. "Would I know to act differently than I did then?"

The Oma look-alike stared back. "There is no guarantee."

"There is no guarantee that it wouldn't turn out exactly the same."

"That is correct."

Daniel pursed his lips. "There's no guarantee that it would turn out better and there's no guarantee it would turn out worse." he added thoughtfully.

"That is correct."


	11. 11

Sam knocked on the office door that she was so used to simply entering. Doing her best to plaster on a genuine smile, she greeted the man working at Daniel's desk. "How's it coming, Captain?"

MacArthur seemed to take a moment to focus on her. He blinked owlishly several times before shaking his head slowly. "I'm sorry, Major, but we still don't have much."

Sam nodded and the pseudo-smile went away. "It's okay." She assured MacArthur. "I know you're trying."

"How's Dr. Jackson?"

Sam took a deep breath. "Still the same."

MacArthur nodded before staring down at his work, and Sam reflected on how different this would be if it were Daniel sitting there instead of this young and enthusiastic air force Captain James MacArthur. It was an awkward moment, but still, Sam stayed.

"What are you working on now?" she asked.

The Captain's head popped back up and he spun the parchment around in case she wanted to look. "This is from the center pillar." He answered. "All four sides."

"Do you know what it says?" Sam questioned, staring at the charcoal impressions.

"No." MacArthur replied. "The best I can figure, it's... well, it's part of a poem... of sorts." He pointed to four distinct groupings. "Each side contained one line of the poem, but we can't quite get a handle on what it says."

"No one knows the language?" Sam was running through her own catalogue of memories, having seen quite a bit of Daniel's work. "It looks familiar."

"No, ma'am." The Captain sat back and fidgeted with a pencil. "It's some form of Ancient, but Dr. Jackson's the only one who can read it. He's probably the only one who could complete this part of the translation with this variation... at least the only one on this planet."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe someone from another planet..."

"One of our allies, you mean?"

"Yeah." Sam began backing toward the door. "Thank you, Captain."


	12. 12

Author's Notes: After this, I have definitely one more scene where Daniel gets to see what could be possible, after that, I can either end the story or do more depending on what you want to see... let me know; I'm kind of impartial either way.

* * *

Daniel was in a new place, this one completely unfamiliar to him. Currently, he stood in a bedroom; it was fairly large and neat... as Daniel looked around, he saw a dark blue uniform hanging from a doorway. It was still in its dry-cleaning bag.

As Daniel moved around to further examine his surroundings, he realized he could hear sounds coming from some other room in the house; from the noises, he guessed it to be from downstairs... probably the kitchen.

Curious as to what was going on, Daniel went to investigate whose house he was in before hearing new noises. It was the soft plodding of small, socked feet, and it was getting closer.

Unsure what to do, Daniel just stood and stared at the doorway, even more confused when a blonde-haired boy opened the bedroom door and entered. Since the boy didn't register any shock at seeing a strange man in his home, Daniel guessed he was not a participant in this scene. He continued to observe as the boy walked stealthily but nervously toward the closet. He opened the door and awkwardly pulled over a chair that had been sat in front of a small desk; climbing on top of it, he reached an arm up and groped around the highest shelf. Finding what he was looking for, the boy pulled down a small, black box. It was then that Daniel's mind put all the pieces together and realized what he was seeing: this was Charlie. Jack's son, Charlie.

Daniel continued watching as the boy quietly stepped down from the chair. He moved over to the bed, where he set the box down and reached into his pocket. He removed a key and began fiddling with the lock. In spite of himself, Daniel found himself calling out.

"Charlie?" Daniel's instinct was to step in and do something, but his warning tone couldn't be heard. Daniel reminded himself that this wasn't real... that he wasn't really here... but he did have to stand by and watch. He looked around frantically for something that would help or at the very least get him out of this place as Charlie succeeded at his task and opened the box. As he reached a hand in, Daniel only had one thought: find Jack... or find Sara. They would probably not be able to hear or see him either, of course, but he had to try. Daniel bolted from the bedroom just as Charlie began his attempt at loading the magazine.

Coming to the landing, Daniel was relieved to see Jack already at the bottom of the stairs, greeting Sara as he removed his coat.

"Jack." Daniel willed him to move. "Come upstairs. _Come upstairs!_"

To Daniel's great relief, Jack asked the question.

"Where's Charlie?"

Sara moved back toward the kitchen. "Playing upstairs." She answered. "Be ready for dinner in half an hour."

Jack smiled and grabbed a bag he'd brought in with him. Climbing the stairs, he called out. "Charlie?"

Daniel urged his friend faster. "Jack – there's no time. Charlie – he's... please, Jack. Hurry. He's in your bedroom and he has your gun."

Reaching the landing, Jack veered off, presumably to Charlie's bedroom.

"No!" Daniel nearly shouted, not that it would've mattered. "Your bedroom! _Your_ bedroom!"

Suddenly, Jack stopped. With a puzzled expression, he went to his own room. "Charlie?" He questioned again, stepping through the doorway.

Daniel followed and saw the absolute shock and horror etched all over Jack's face; there was an equal expression of fear on Charlie's.

"Charlie." Jack said calmly, never taking his eyes from the boy standing next to the bed, gun loaded and held in both hands. Jack set his bag gently and quietly down as he knelt on the carpet. "Charlie," he repeated, "put the gun gently on the bed."

"Dad –" Charlie began.

"Charlie!" Jack's tone was sharper this time. He softened a bit. "I need you to set the gun down on the bed, kiddo." He instructed. "and then come over here to me."

Charlie did as he was told and went cautiously to his father. Within an arm's reach, Jack pulled his son into a tight hug, letting out a huge sigh.

"I'm sorry, Dad." Came a small, muffled voice into Jack's shoulder.

"It's okay." Jack reassured. He held his son at arm's length. "But we're gonna have a long talk about this." He smoothed the boy's hair. "I'm very upset with you, Charlie, but it's okay."

Charlie nodded, not meeting the disappointed eyes of his father.

"Go to the kitchen and wait for me there. We'll tell your mother together."

Charlie nodded again and obeyed, leaving the room.

Jack remained where he was, on his knees on the floor, for several moments before getting up and sitting on the bed. He picked up the gun and pulled out the clip. Placing the gun itself back in the box and locked it, but the magazine he held in his hand along with the key. Elbows resting on his knees, Jack dropped his head and let out another massive sigh.

---

Mentally preparing himself, the shock of being returned to the semi-imprisonment wasn't quite so bad this time around.

Daniel sighed and licked his lips. "This just keeps getting more and more fun." he said dryly. Sitting down on his cot, Daniel dropped his own head into his hands, still trying to wrap his exhausted mind around what was happening. He looked up to the woman, hoping for some bit of straightforward truth.

She stared back, blankly.

Daniel dropped his head, defeated. "Could you at least tell me your name?" he muttered. He looked back up. "At the moment, it's just one more thing to add to the long list of circumstances that are going to drive me crazy, and, as you may imagine, I'd like to resolve that as quickly as possible."

"I have no name." She answered. "You may call me whatever you wish."

"No. No, no, no!" Daniel held up a twitchy hand. "Just... please..." he implored. "Give me a name to call you."

"Very well." the woman smiled. "You may call me Fortuna."

Daniel laughed a little crazily in spite of himself. "Fortuna?" He questioned. "That's... no... of course... that's very good." He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "The Roman goddess of fate and chance." He nodded and sighed. "It's very... fitting, all things considered."


	13. 13

Author's Notes: It's been awhile, but I thought I'd pick this up again and finish it, regardless of whether anyone's reading it. I guess it's just not in me to leave it off.

* * *

"Alright!" Thomas Andrews stood up and threw his hands into the air. "That's it!" He bellowed. "I'm done!"

John Tatlock paused in his translation to look up at his bewildered colleague. "You're done with what?" he questioned, adjusting his glasses.

"This!" Andrews exclaimed. "This!" he repeated. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I'm getting nowhere! This isn't solveable!"

Tatlock shrugged. "Sure it's solveable, Tom; we just have to keep at it." He looked past the dancing Egyptians to the clock readout on Daniel's computer. "Take a fifteen minute break." He placated. "Go get a cup of coffee, rest your mind for a bit, and then try again. You can't deny that this is fascinating stuff."

"Oh, yes!" Andrews replied. "Yes, I can deny it. I hate this. This is _not_ what I signed up for: I was scheduled for a mission with SG15 this week, doing my own work, not cooped up in this office staring at the same stuff that no one can read for hours and hours on end." The linguist crossed his arms resolutely. "I'm going home," he declared. "I'm going to get food, go home, and go to sleep."

Sighing, Tatlock tried a different route. "I know you're tired and I know you're missing out on a trip through the gate, Tom, but think about Daniel. He needs our help." Tatlock went back to his own translation. "Besides which, every member of SG1 has stopped by so far with the exception of Teal'c." he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "And I, for one, don't want to be caught slacking when he _does_ stop by."

"Oh, please!" Andrews reverted back to shouting. "Daniel, Daniel, Daniel." He flung his arms about wildly in frustration. "All everyone ever talks about is how damn good he is. A fine mess he's gotten himself into that he can't seem to get himself out of! _We're_ the ones who've got to figure out this stupid problem."

Tatlock looked up to reply, but only let out a frightened squeak as he saw an imposing figure standing in the doorway behind the still-venting Thomas Andrews.

"...and SG1! Who needs 'em?! Like they're the only ones who do good work?! I'm not gonna be intimidated by Teal'c either. What's so frightening about him? So he was the first prime of a gould. We kicked Apophis' ass years ago; he can't be that tough. Teal'c. Yeah. Right." Andrews huffed. "I'm going home, John. Call me if Jackson wakes up." Turning sharply to stride out the door, he ran straight into a very large bulk, rebounded, and landed heavily on the floor, almost upsetting several stacks of books.

Hands clasped behind his back, Teal'c tilted his head a bit and stared at the prone scientist. "Major Carter has been unable to contact the allies of Earth." His gaze moved to Tatlock. "I was sent to find out if any progress had been made with regards to the translation."

Tatlock shook his head mutely.

"That is unfortunate." Teal'c intoned. "I will return in several hours..." he looked back at Andrews, who cringed under his gaze. "I hope you will have made progress during that time."

Andrews waited until Teal'c left to pick himself up off of the floor. Straightening his clothes and squaring his shoulders, he looked to his friend. "I'm just gonna get back to that translation now."

"Yes." Tatlock affirmed. "Good idea." As Andrews moved to another part of the office, Tatlock looked back to the door and mentally shuddered before going back to his own work.


	14. 14

Author's Notes: Almost done...

* * *

Light flashed again and Daniel found himself sitting in a bedroom, at a desk that faced a window. Crinkling his brow, he saw the quiet street outside – it was obviously suburban – he saw a woman walking her dog and could see a young boy across the street, stargazing in the front yard with his father, who was pointing out the first stars of the early evening.

Looking at his surroundings inside, Daniel examined his studies. Illuminated in the darkened room by a small, but bright desk lamp, Daniel saw several books piled up: Chemistry, Calculus, Sociology... he hadn't taken these classes since high school... in fact, he remembered being distinctly irritated with the sociology class, finding he already knew far more about paradigms and social structure than the flimsy 300 page text and even flimsier teacher could ever tell him.

Directly in front of Daniel, however, were rubbings of an ancient text. It was a narrative... one of the first languages Daniel had learned when he was just a boy and one of his first loves. He read over the script and smiled... he remembered doing this; he'd pored over it again and again, putting his already disciplined brain through little tests and games, sharpening his knowledge of the culture and context and intricacies... but he hadn't done this here... not in this place. This was completely unfamiliar to him.

Puzzled over what was going on in this particular scene of potentiality, Daniel was broken out of his reverie by a knock at the door. He turned in his seat and almost fell out of it when he saw a familiar face peer around it.

Daniel's father smiled and entered the room.

"Sorry, Danny. I know you're studying." He came up beside his son, peering over to the parchment on the desk. "Ah. Good choice." He affirmed as his eyes skimmed over the text. "Your mother took that rubbing at –"

"I remember." Daniel interrupted, finding himself entirely lost in the moment, staring at his father, slightly older than he remembered. "I was six. I remember her teaching me the symbols."

Melbourne Jackson placed a hand affectionately on his son's head, smoothing the fair hair... Daniel couldn't prevent the moisture that began gathering at the corners of his eyes.

Bringing his other hand around, Daniel's father placed a small package in front of him and on top of the parchment. "I wanted to give you this, Danny. I was going to wait, but... I thought maybe you might enjoy it." He waited. "Open it." He encouraged as Daniel continued staring, memorizing his father's face all over again. Blinking a few times, he forced himself to look down at the small, clumsily wrapped package. Tugging the twine, Daniel pulled away the rough, heavy brown paper to reveal a battered but well-loved copy of the Book of the Dead. He recognized it immediately.

"But this is yours." Daniel held the book out, as if to give it back.

Melbourne nodded and smiled. "Like I said, I thought you might like to have it at school... UCLA is pretty far away, and your mom and I will be in Egypt... it'll be a little piece of home."

"It's from you and it's from Egypt." Daniel mumbled thoughtfully.

"Egypt is in your blood, Daniel. You've done so well; your mother and I..."Melbourne nodded again and placed his hand on his son's shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. "I'm so proud of you, Danny."

---

"Why." Daniel stared piercingly at Fortuna. "Why me?" he questioned again, his anger and irritation barely contained.

"Why not you?" She responded.

Daniel clenched his jaw and turned away, willing himself to regain some sort of composure before facing her again. "Why won't you tell me how this is possible?"

"That is not important."

"It is!" All self-control was lost as Daniel gave a frustrated hop and waved his arms about. "It is important! I don't understand how –"

"There is no trick, Daniel." Fortuna interrupted... and for the first time, there was something similar to compassion in her voice. "You are in a position to change your life."

Daniel sat heavily on his cot. "But if I choose to change things for me, everything changes." he looked at Fortuna for confirmation. "I mean, if I decided to act differently..." he shrugged his shoulders, going through the possibilities. "I bring Sha're back through the gate with me, the Abydonians bury it, we never meet Teal'c. Kawalsky stays alive. Sam never is blended with Jolinar. We never meet the Tok'ra. Sam's father dies of cancer. I mean, all of that could happen, right? You change one thing and everything else could change."

The impartial tone came back. "It could."

Daniel stood again, crossing one arm over his chest while holding up a finger, asking for patience while he processed scenarios. "But I could also go back far enough so that Jack's son doesn't die; so that Sam's mother doesn't die; Dreyauc..." he raised his eyebrows and gave a sardonic smile. "I could go back to being an academic disgrace, Jack would never go through the gate on that first mission to Abydos, Sam would go into the astronaut program…" the smile went away "...but Teal'c would still be a slave to Apophis.

"It is a possibility."

Daniel threw up both hands and made a face. "But there's still no telling if I went back all that way and everything stayed exactly the same. There's no telling whether I go back all that way and everything turns out worse than I could ever even imagine." He looked half-accusingly, half-thougtfully, at Fortuna. "You've shown me the good things that are possible, but I haven't seen any of the bad."

"Would you like to see the bad?" she asked, still expressionless.

"No." Daniel replied quickly. "No, thanks." he paused and thought again before continuing. "Look, I can't do this. I don't have the right to change anything. Not for myself, not for Sha're, not for Jack or Sam or Teal'c." Daniel resumed his place on the cot, leaning wearily against the adjacent wall.

"Are you sure, Daniel? You could have it all back. You could have your parents and your wife."

Eyes closed, Daniel nodded. "I understand."

"There will be no changing your mind." Fortuna knelt before him, staring intently. "Are you absolutely certain?"

---

_"Come to bed, husband..."_

_"Danny, I'm so proud of you..."_

_"Charlie! Hey Charlie! I brought you something!"_

---

"Why are you doing this?!" Daniel's eyes were open again as he pleaded for respite, and he was sitting forward, hands grasping the edge of the cot.

Fortuna remained kneeling in front of him, her voice and face finally truly and fully impassioned. "Would not the potential good be worth the risk of the potential bad? Haven't you always wanted the chance to change things?"

"Of course," Daniel replied in earnest. "but… but one man can't have that power. No matter how much I want it – that – that doesn't make it right!"

Fortuna leaned back and stood, all emotion washed away once more. "I will ask again: you are certain you will not take anything back?"

Daniel remained forward, his eyes and voice full of resolve. "I'm certain."

"It is as you say, Daniel."


	15. 15

Author's Notes:  Yeah... it's still going... it's just taking me awhile...  it's getting very near the end now, so expect some high drama and a bit of cursing. 

* * *

Janet stepped into the observation room, and for the second time, faced SG1. 

"Good." She clasped her hands in front of her, bracing herself. "You're all here."

"What's up, Doc?" Jack made a lame attempt at a joke, all the while staring down at Daniel through the tall, slanted glass windows.

Janet found she couldn't bring herself to smile and so opted to barrel on with her information. "It's Daniel, Sir." She answered, though it was painfully obvious that he was the reason the remaining members of the team had been called together. "We've had to resuscitate him several times... I'm afraid it's taking its toll on his body."

Jack waited momentarily. "So? And? Therefore?" he finally asked, even though he could already guess some of what was coming.

Janet closed her eyes briefly. "So, Sir... in my opinion, I don't think he'll survive another resuscitation attempt. The last whole blood test we did showed extremely elevated LDH, creatinine, AST and ALT levels. In addition – " Janet was cut off by an impatient wave from the Colonel. "The point is, Sir," she began to rephrase, "right now, Daniel's lungs and heart are very weak; his kidneys and liver are all out of whack. We're looking at multiple organ failure in a matter of days." Janet paused again, thinking how best to continue. "If I put him on a ventilator..." she trailed off.

"This ventilator would prolong the life of Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c questioned.

"By a few days, at most, yes." Janet answered truthfully.

"Janet?" Sam asked, knowing there was something missing.

The doctor chanced a brief look at the colonel. "Daniel has a DNR."

Jack stared blankly, Teal'c raised an eyebrow and Sam closed her eyes in grief. "It's a Do Not Resuscitate, Sir." She spoke slightly above a whisper and opened her eyes again to look at her commanding officer. "He doesn't want any extreme –"

"I know what it means!" Jack snapped. "I signed the damn thing." He muttered.

Janet looked at the Colonel, Sam and Teal'c each in turn. "I wanted to let you all know." She half-turned to look down at Daniel herself, doing her best to hold back tears, "You might want to stay close, in case..." and found herself nearly losing the battle.

"Son of a _bitch!_" Jack cursed and shoved a stool roughly out of his way, sending it clattering to the floor, the noise deafening in the small room. Without a second look back, he threw open the door and stormed down the hallway.


	16. 16

After calming himself down to some extent, Janet finally let Jack return to her infirmary. As it was, he was now sitting in a chair beside Daniel's bed, under the occasional observation of the nurses and Janet herself every ten minutes or so... perhaps to make sure he wasn't going to lose it and break something.

Shifting his weight, Jack made another attempt to get comfortable.

"Damn chairs." He cursed. "I should get a recliner for as much time as I spend in here." He mumbled and gave a pointed look at the prone archaeologist. "Mostly because of _you_."

Jack settled for putting his feet up on the bed and leaning somewhat. His head lolled back and he rubbed his hands roughly over his face, still trying to come to terms with the whole situation and struggling to keep his weariness at bay. This was one of the times he wondered why the hell he hadn't retired years ago.

"Dammit, Daniel." He muttered for what he figured was probably the gazillionth time since he had met the man. "You gotta stop doing this." He sighed and allowed his hands to fall to his lap. "I can't –" in typical Jack O'Neill fashion, he stopped short of expressing what exactly he was feeling and redirected. "It's killing Carter to see you like this. And Teal'c – well, you know Teal'c and his stoic warrior bit; but even he's started to crack after all the times we've almost lost you... hell, after all the times we actually _have_ lost you. I can't even remember how many times you've died anymore; I'm getting sick of packing up your stuff and planning the memorials." Jack stopped and gave a hard glare. "So wake up now." He ordered. After a moment of nothing, "it was worth a try." He defended, shrugging his shoulders.

Jack leaned his head back again, ignoring the discomfort he felt at being in so unnatural a position. He stared blankly at the ceiling for many long moments, unable to keep morbid thoughts from coming... how long would it be til he had to watch his friend die... and for real this time? It didn't seem right: this was _Daniel_, for crying out loud. It wasn't at all how Jack ever would have imagined: lying in a hospital bed in the SGC, no one quite sure what was wrong or how to stop it and no one quite sure how he'd gotten that way.

"Jack?"

Jack's head popped back up; he looked first to his right and then left, sure he'd finally crossed some line of demarcation in stress levels and was hearing voices.

"Jack." The voice repeated... impatiently? Jack knew the tone all too well... he quickly stood and leaned over the figure lying in the hospital bed. He was incredibly relieved, yet somehow unsurprised at seeing blue eyes staring back up at him.

"You told me to wake up." Daniel's raspy voice stated quite simply.

Jack straightened and crossed his arms, a little self-satisfied. "I didn't even know I had that power." He reflected. "Hell, if I knew that's all it would take..."

Jack snapped back to attention after a moment. "So..." he began, "where were ya, Danny?"  there was a distinct softness to his tone.

"There was a woman." Daniel answered tiredly. "It was like a dream – she showed me what was possible."

"Kinky." Jack suddenly found humor in the whole thing now that Daniel was awake.

Ignoring the joke, or not hearing it at all, Daniel went on. "It was that pillar." His eyelids were drooping already as Jack waved over a nurse.

"Go get Fraiser." He ordered as Daniel began speaking a language Jack recognized as belonging to the Ancients. "Daniel, try to stay with me here." Jack laid a hand on his shoulder, trying to keep his attention.

Daniel's unfocused gaze found his friend again. "It was _them_, Jack. Somehow..." he trailed off, closing his eyes, trying to pull knowledge from his overworked brain.

As Daniel was still thinking, Jack heard the familiar click of Janet's heels. Their eyes met for a moment while she came up behind him, pulling out a stethoscope and moving round to Daniel's other side. When Daniel opened his eyes again, Janet smiled down, taking his hand, probably more of a comfort to herself than to him.

"Hey." She greeted. "Welcome back."

Maneuvering the stethoscope around, Janet listened to the four chambers of Daniel's heart, relieved to hear perfectly normal, healthy sounds and a strong, steady beat. She was, naturally, surprised and confused by the sudden and unexplained recovery, but then she _had_ seen much stranger things... from this man in particular.

Daniel blinked several times, obviously fighting to stay awake.

"It was the pillar." He looked first to Janet and then to Jack, his brow crinkling as he tried to bring back the memory.

"Daniel –" Jack moved to cut him off as his friend began speaking Ancient again.

Daniel stopped and refocused. "No, Jack... it was..." his brow furrowed again, "a moment in time." He finally came up with, blinking a few more times before his eyes closed with a sort of finality or at the very least, accomplishment.

Jack looked to Janet, a little alarmed.

"Doc?" he questioned, afraid for a repeat of the last week.

"I can't be sure without running some tests, but I think he's just sleeping, Sir." She informed the colonel. "His body systems may be recovering very quickly, but he'll still need a little time. You have to remember that he had high brain activity since we brought him back through the gate, even though he appeared to be comatose." She smiled. "Why don't you go get Sam and Teal'c?" she suggested. "We'll run some tests, and I'll be able to give you all the full rundown."

Jack nodded, somewhat reluctant to leave, but finally released his hold on Daniel's shoulder and shuffled out of the infirmary.


	17. 17

Author's Notes: So, this is the last chapter! Hopefully, it wraps things up a bit. I hope you enjoyed my little story; I had fun writing it! I'll try to be better about heeding reviews next time. ;)

* * *

Jack sauntered up to his friend's bed, taking in the civilian clothes and the neatly piled stack of books and folders. "Daniel!" he greeted. "Whatcha doin?"

The archaeologist himself was also sat upon the bed, apparently undergoing a few more tests and checkups. Daniel rolled down his shirt sleeve as a nurse finished taking blood. "Thank you." He told her before turning his attention to Jack. "Janet just released me." Daniel hopped off the bed and gathered his things.

"No kidding." Happy though he was at Daniel finally being healthy and up and around again, Jack's smile faded. "Gonna go home, then?" he offered.

Daniel began to move toward the doors of the infirmary when Jack stepped in front of him. Furrowing his brow, he surveyed the colonel critically. "Yeah..." he answered suspiciously. "Sam brought these things for me a couple days ago" he held the books up a bit, "I was just gonna stop by my lab and drop all this stuff off first... maybe pick up a few other things. Why?"

Jack again stepped casually into Daniel's path as he madeanother attempt at leaving. "You sure you don't want to just head home?" He asked. "I could even give you a ride."

Daniel stared at his friend. "No." he replied warily. "No, thank you."

"Well, then," Jack was still running interference, although, thankfully, Daniel was no longer trying to get past him. "I'm glad that's settled. Let's go line up someone to take you home." He gestured to a phone on the wall. "Ol' Doc. Fraiser won't want you driving yourself home, will she?"

"I don't need a ride because I'm not going home yet, Jack." Taking advantage of Jack's movement toward the phone, Daniel once again tried to make his escape.

Once again, Jack jumped into Daniel's path, and held up his hands. "Daniel, are you sure –"

"Jack!" Daniel was finally beginning to lose patience. "As much as I appreciate everything everyone here has done for me, quite honestly, I'm sick of being in this infirmary. I'd really just like to leave this room, drop this stuff off and go home!"

"Right." Jack's hands went to his pockets and he rocked forward on his toes. "I should probably go with you."

"What's going on?" Daniel questioned.

"What?" Jack replied, feigning ignorance.

"This. What are we doing right now?"

"Nothing." Jack mustered up as much innocence as he possibly could.

"Fine." Daniel replied shortly and looked expectantly at his friend. "I'm leaving now."

Jack held out an arm. "No one's stopping you."

Daniel pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Jack's head bobbed.

---

Daniel stared around in wonder, standing in the doorway to his office. "What happened in here?" he asked Jack, still trying to take in the supreme mess that lay before him. Though he consistently kept his lab a bit jumbled, he distinctly remembered it had not looked like _this_ the last time he'd left it.

Sam popped up and smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Daniel."

"Sam?" his brow furrowed. "Sorry. I didn't see you behind the..." he gestured vaguely, toward the various piles"...stack of books."

"I am glad that you are well, Daniel Jackson." Came another voice.

"Teal'c?!" Daniel asked incredulously as the jaffa also appeared. He was more than a little surprised that any stack of papers and folders and books could hide the bulk of Teal'c. "What is all this?"

Daniel looked to Jack, whose arms were crossed as he leaned against the doorframe. Jack refused to meet his eyes, instead staring at the ceiling. As Daniel turned his gaze to Sam, she fidgeted a bit.

"It's everything we gathered from the ruins." She answered. "We thought we could find information that would help you there. A team was brought in to translate it all... this is the pile that was finished." Sam pointed to the desk, where Daniel could see several neat piles.

Walking through the maze of materials, Daniel went to his desk and picked up a rubbing from the first pile. "This one's in gould –"

"Teal'c did that one." Jack offered, still leaning.

Daniel looked at the colonel for a moment before his gaze went back to the desktop. Tracing fingers over the thin paper and charcoal, he continued his assessment. "Uh, this is koinae Greek, ancient Hebrew, medieval Latin... and this one is..." he muttered in some other language, "...wrong." He looked back to Sam. "Who did this?"

"There was a team." She repeated.

Daniel surveyed the lab again for a moment. "Maybe..." he shuffled some papers around, looked to the bookshelf, looked to Sam who smiled encouragingly, "Maybe I'll just..." he attempted to find the journal from the last mission, stopped, sighed, and looked to Jack, who had a smug smile. "I think I'll take that ride home now, Jack."

Tossing his keys once in the air, Jack deftly caught them and walked away, calling back, "Carter! Teal'c! Don't forget the pizza!"

---

Jack leaned back on the couch and eyed one of the various artifacts on the table next to him warily. He looked at Daniel. "We should've gone to my place." He complained. "I feel like I'm gonna break something here; it's like a museum: I'm afraid to touch anything."

"Doesn't stop you from breaking things in my office." Daniel replied.

"Fair point."

"And how exactly would you know what the inside of a museum looks like, Jack?"

Jack narrowed his eyes and Daniel raised his eyebrows.

Sam leaned forward in her chair. "So, Daniel," she began, breaking the staring contest, "what's gonna go in your report?"

Daniel watched disapprovingly as Jack began flicking green peppers off of the remaining pizza slice that sat in the box on the coffee table. "I uh..." he continued to be preoccupied with Jack. "I don't know yet." Daniel frowned as Jack returned with a 'what'd I do?' expression.

"Have you learned the meaning of the ruins, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c prodded, attempting to get the archaeologist's attention back.

Daniel nodded, refocusing. "I think they were histories of individual people. The center pillar pulls it all together."

"Captain MacArthur never figured out what it said." Sam offered.

Daniel frowned. "It was some form of Ancient... probably developed by an offshoot of the original race, but just as advanced." He ignored Jack's yawn, "It was a poem – almost an incantation: '_A moment in time / the span of one breath / in the power of one choice / theopportunity to change a life'"._ He recited.

"You're saying this race had the power to change history? To go back in time?" Sam questioned.

Daniel's brow furrowed in thought. "No." he answered. "The woman, Fortuna, she offered me a chance to go back and relive things: to start over, so to speak." Jack's eyebrows were raised now, the pizza forgotten. "She showed me what the possibilities were and, uh... it was tempting, given what could change for the better." Daniel unintentionally looked to Jack, who suddenly seemed very far away. "I couldn't do it." Daniel told Sam finally. "But I guess that's obvious." He laughed a bit and leaned back, resting his head on the sofa cushions. "I think the other languages were other people who got the same opportunity; moments that they did return to. It doesn't make sense until you put the whole thing together." Daniel paused, reflecting. "I don't know anything more than that – the next thing I remember is waking up in the infirmary."

Sam stood and began clearing plates. As she walked toward the kitchen, she moved behind Daniel, laying a light kiss on his forehead. "We're glad you did."

---

Daniel stood in the doorway, watching Sam and Teal'c leave. Returning to the living room, he found Jack still sitting on the sofa, staring at the bottle of beer he held in his hands.

After several moments of silence, Jack finally spoke softly. "You did the right thing, Daniel." He met his friend's eyes. "You almost always do."

Daniel took a deep breath. "You wanna stay?" he asked.

Jack set the beer down on the coffee table. "Sure." He stood. "You still got my stuff in the spare room?"

"Always." Daniel replied simply.

Jack nodded a few times and shoved his hands in his pockets. "You wanna, you know... talk?" he asked awkwardly.

"No." Daniel answered quickly.

"No." Jack repeated just as quickly, overlapping Daniel's response. "Good." Another awkward pause. "Night, then."

Daniel nodded as Jack shuffled off toward the extra bedroom. "Night, Jack." He started off toward his own room before stopping and calling down the hallway, "Don't break anything!"


End file.
